Ventilating partition structure



sept. 17, 1940. w ,Q LUCIUS J2,214,321

VENTILATING PARTITION STRUCTURE Filed June 21, 1957 Patented Sept. 17, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT i OFFICE l2,214,821v y y VENTILATING PARTITION STRUCTURE "William I. Lucius,` Mount Vernon, N. Y., assignor to J ohns-Manville Corporation, New York, N. Y.;

'Ia corporation of New York .i ,f Application June 21., 1937, serial No. 149,301 l s claims. (ci. sia-4o) This invention relates to partition structures. More particularly it relates-toa partition structure including `a fluid vdistribution system, andk It is a further object of this inventionto provide a partition' structure which is eapableof supplying Ventilating fluid substantially uniformly throughout a room,v and at the same time absorb' or modify sounds occurring within the room and prevent the entrance of sounds into the rOO v through the partition. g l f It is another object of this invention to provide a fluid distribution systemwhichwill uniformly supply fluid over a'denite area.

Other objects vand advantages, if not specically pointed out, l.will be apparent to those skilled.` f

'ploying the construction of my said'y co-pending yapplication which is diagramr'natically indicated in the art from vthe following detailed description of what is now considered'the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In the drawing: g Fig.l 1 is a perspective of the present invention: i K, Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on the plane indicated byline 2-'2, of

Fig. 1 and looking in `the directionfof the arrows, l

'and r Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, sectional, elevational;

yview taken substantially onthe plane indicated by line lf-S of Fig. 2 and looking in the directionk of the arrows.

Referring to Fig. i, there is shown a room indi-"f cated generally-at 2 ywhiclris similar to;k any con ventional room, with the exception of the partitime provides `an acousticalcorrection for the` room. The Ventilating, and acoustical partition has been illustrated and will ,b ef described as a' ceiling because the ceiling partition of afroomy ls usually the one which mostreadily admits of being formed in accordance with the present invention,`but any of the other partitions, such as the side walls or floor, might be so formed, if such is desired.

The partition structure comprises a backing view', partly in section, `of a room provided with the partition structure Y 55 member/4, which in this instanceis formed by the y If the side walls 8' of` the room iioor slab of the floor above the room 2, but may be 'formed byl a sub-ceiling, or any ,other type of construction` desired. The only requirement for v'the backing member 4 is that it be substantially n impervious to air.`

A facing member 6 is spaced from Athe backing memberl. The facing member E Tmay be formed in a number of ways, but a preferred construction is disclosed in my co-pending vpatent application Serial No. 107,756,`filed October 27, 1936, In any event, the.' fa'cing member 6 should comprise a tion material, or perforatedmetal, and serves as a decorative treatment for'the partition struc--` The porous 'material may be normally ture.

'porous airl and sound transmitting member, which may be formed ofrp'orous cloth or y,composi-v porous or perforated so as to cause it to be porous..

between the facing .member 6 andthe backing member ,4; Such removability ofythe facing The porous facing member will usually be formed nierriber sections 'is preferably achieved by emin Fig.,3. .-Thus, the porous facing member may y be made up ofperforated metalpans having flanges 20 insertable forfrictional engagementl with supporting-members, such as T-bars 22 susr`vpended in any suitable manner Vfrom `the backingmernber or fioor'slab above the partition.

The facing lmember 6 ,will usually' include!y sound-absorbing,material, arranged so as to inthe porous iacingmember from the room below, and at'the same time permit `transmissior'i of tercept and absorb soundsk transmitted'through fluid from the'space above thefacing member 6 into the room below. Sound-absorbing material thefacing-member B', the only requirement being that it be exposed to the sound originating withi in the room 2.l kThis sound-absorbing material will "also, tend to absorbsounds originating without the room and prevent their transmission'into fthe room `through the partition.f For purposes of illustration, the soundfabsorbingmaterial has` 2 do not extend I may be disposed at anyplace within oradjacent to the space between the backing member 4 andv upwardly as far as the backing member 4, panels I0 may be placed above the side walls 8, or else- `with very fine perforations.

where Within the space between the backing member 4 and the facing member 6, to cooperate with the backing and facing members, and the bearing or other walls I2 of the building of which the room 2 forms a part, to form a plenum chamber I4.

Fluid supply ducts IS convey Ventilating fluid from any suitablevsource, such as a conventional conditioning system (not shown), to the plenum chamber I4. It has been found thatif fluid is permitted to pass directly from the discharge ends of the ducts I 5 into the plenum chamber and through the fluid and sound transmitting facing member 6 into the room, thefine particles of dust which remain in the conditioned fluid,

even after passage of the same through the average conditioning system, are deposited on the facing member 6 and tend to discolor it. Also, unless the effective porosity of the facing member 6 is accurately controlled, the fluid will not be distributed throughout the chamber Il and consequently will not be uniformly supplied throughout the room 2 through the facing member E.

In order to overcome the two above mentioned problems, an air filter and distributor I8 is connected to the discharge end of each of the supply ducts I6, either directly or by means of any suitable extension.

The fluid filter and distributor I8 is formed ofmaterial having Very fine pores, or of ,initially imperforate material which has been provided 'I'he fluid in passing through the ne openings in the member I8 has practically all of the foreign matter removed therefrom. In addition, the resistance to the passage of the fluid through the walls of the member I8, due to the neness of the openings therein, causes the fluid to be distributed uniformly throughout the extent of the member I8 and to be discharged uniformly throughout the chamber I4, and, consequently, uniformlydistributed to the room 2.

The number of ducts I 6 and fluid filters and distributors I8 provided will depend upon the size of the plenum chamber I4 and the magnitude of the conditioned spacein the room 2. As many or as few of the ducts IE and members i8 may be provided as desired.

It is advantageous to form the air filters and distributors I8 from porous flexible material and to Vmake them in the shape of elongated bags or tubes. When such a construction is used, a filter and distributor I8 may be originally installed, or removed for cleaning and replaced, by removing only one, or, at the most, only a few of the sections, such as the removable sections 20 (see Fig. 3), of which the facing portion of the facing member E is formed in the vicinity of the connection of the fluid lter and distributor I8 to a fluid supply duct I6. When a filter and distributor I 8 is so installed, it may be extended over the chamber I4 to any desired extent, depending upon the length of the distributor I8, by means of any siutable instrument passed up through the opening formed by the removed sections, or the pressure of the air within the filter and distributor I8 may be depended upon to inflate the filter and distributor and automatically properly position it within the chamber I 4.

A partition structure such as that previously described provides a uniform distribution of clean Ventilating fluid to the room space adjacent thereto, Without interfering with the soundabsorbing or modifying, or other acoustical function, of the acoustical treatment also provided by the partition structure.

The foregoing details have ,been given for the' purpose of description and not limitation, since many change sand modifications may be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A building partition structure comprising a substantially air-impermeable backing member, a sound-absorbing and fluid transmitting facing member spaced therefrom, panels extending between said members ,and defining a plenum chamber therewith, a fluid supply duct, and an elongated tubular fluid filter and distributor in communication with said duct and within said chamber and extending substantially thereacross for delivering fluid into and substantially uniformly throughout the extent of said plenum chamber.

2. A partition structure tially air-impermeable backing member, a porous facing member spaced from said backing member and forming a plenum space therewith, soundabsorbing material within said space, a fluid supply duct, and a flexible, substantially tubular, fluid filter and distributor, in communication with said duct and extending Within and substantially across said space.

3. A room partition structure comprising a substantially air-impermeable backing member, a porous facing member spaced therefrom, panels extending between said members and defining therewith a plenum chamber, sound-absorbing material within said chamber, a plurality of fluid supply ducts, and a flexible, elongated fluid filter and distributor in communication with each of said ducts and extending within said chamber and substantially thereacross to deliver filtered uid substantially uniformly throughout said chamber for transmission by said porous member generally throughout its area to the room without.

4. A room partition structure comprising a substantially air-impermeable backing member, a porous facing member spaced therefrom, said facing member including a removable section, sound-absorbing material within said space between said members, a fluid supply duct, and a flexible, elongated fluid filter and distributor removably connected with said duct near said section and extending between said members and substantially across said space and arranged to distribute fluid substantially uniformly throughout said space.

5. A partition structure comprising a substantially air-impermeable backing member, a. porous facing member spaced therefrom, said facing member comprising a removable section, a soundabsorbing material within the space between said members and adjacent said facing member, a fluid supply duct, and a flexible tubular fluid filter and distributor removably connected with said duct adjacent said section and extending freely within and substantially across said space behind said sound-absorbing material, said distributor being arranged to deliver fluid substantially uniformly throughout said space.

WILLIAM I. LUCIUS.

comprising a substan- 

